Three police officers leave force in two years after getting criminal record

Becca Choules

Three police officers serving with the Hertfordshire Constabulary have left the force in the past two years after receiving criminal convictions.

One male officer was convicted of common assault in 2013, another was convicted of driving with excess alcohol in 2014, and a female officer was convicted of failing to provide a specimen of breath.

The Professional Standards Department database found that none of the three officers were still serving.

The constabulary said it only holds records of officers convicted while serving, not for those with a historic conviction prior to joining the force.

The force said it would exceed cost and time limits under Freedom of Information laws to retrieve the relevant information.

The figures were revealed after the Press Association sent freedom of information requests to every police force in the UK, asking how many police officers and PCSOs had been convicted of criminal offences since 2012 and the total number of serving officers with criminal convictions.

The results showed that hundreds of police officers from across the UK have been convicted of offences in the last three years including sex crimes, assaults and possessing indecent images of children.

Across the country, 309 police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) were convicted of offences from 2012 to June this year.

But that number is thought to be much higher, as only 25 out of 45 forces provided figures following the Press Association’s investigation.

Currently at least 295 police officers and PCSOs with convictions are serving with the police, according to separate figures from 18 forces.

Most forces refused to reveal how many of their officers had previous convictions because of the cost of retrieving the information.

Police also refused to disclose the names of the officers involved in crimes, arguing that identifying them would breach data protection laws.